Newsletters 1988
Volume 10, Number I February, 1988
Early History of Jackson Park
by Julia Kramer
Julia Kramer (Mrs. Ferdinand Kramer) is a genealogist and local history buff.
Although the five hundred acres which became the East Division (Jackson Park) of the South Park were marshy, largely uninhabitable and without much intrinsic value, much occurred on or about the land to add many colorful chapters and footnotes to the early history of development of the park and of Chicago and Hyde Park.
The Potowatamie Indians undoubtedly hunted and fished on this property south of the village of Chicago before the treaty of 1833 which ended the Black Hawk War and ceded the lands west of Lake Michigan to the United States. The lands went on public sale by the U.S. Government on June 15, 1835, and were bought for $1.25 an acre, in the wild speculation of the times in all western lands.
One of the few persons to actually live on this unappealing property was Charles Burton Phillips, a sometime Baptist preacher and full time real estate speculator. He purchased one hundred ninety-six acres in 1849 for $500, double the original price. To this acreage, which lay between 59th Street and 63rd Street and stretched from the Michigan Road (later Stony Island Ave.) to the lake, and was bounded on the west by a high ridge of timber, he brought his new wife, Elizabeth Wright. They named their home "Eg?emont", built a barn and a two story frame house, painted it yellow, laid out a ten acre vegetable garden with a large strawberry patch, spent much money
placing fences to keep out the cattle and hired men to dig ditches by hand to drain the land. They sold corn from their farm for the park, hoped to yield enough revenue to pay for the entire park system within the first five years. The prevailing opinion was that parks always produce more than they cost, due mostly to the enhanced valuation of nearby property. What no one had counted on, however, was the length of time it would take to condemn and purchase the lands, the amount and cost of litigation, or the difficulty in collecting the taxes and assessments. Certainly no one could have anticipated the I 871 Chicago Fire which burned all the land records, along with the Olmsted and Vaux' original plans.
The land cost more than $3,500,000 for the entire South Park system by the time all was settled in the mid I 880's.
In the East Division of South Park, about half of rhe lands condemned were purchased in 1870 at prices ranging from
$1,400 per acre to $2,000 per acre, already higher than the $700 per acre the Commissioners had expected to pay. Two parcels of land, however, were in dispute. One was a seventy-eight acre piece on the easterly side of a two hundred acre tract between 63rd Street and 67th Street, owned·'by forty four persons. The other was the one hundred ninety-six acre tract once lived on by Charles Phillips, its ownership clouded by numerous claims and pseudo claims, including that of William Kerr who had executed his judgment on the land in 1863.
The clearing of the title to Phillips' tract became a "Celebrated Case" - a tangled web of litigation, tried in the United States Courts, the Cook County
Courts, twice in the Supreme Court of the United States and several times in the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois over a period of fifteen years. The cases provided employment to numbers of lawyers, many of whom took their fees in titles to small portions of the disputed land or ees contingent on the lTnarland value. There were ten thousand pages of testimony in what one of the judges called the most "complicated" case he had ever tried. At issue was whether William Kerr, owner of the land by virtue of the lien, had title to homestead lands which had been abandoned when Charles Phillips
had deserted Elizabeth. This was finally resolved in 1885 when William Kerr was declared the owner of one hundred eleven acres, for which he received $1,450 per acre plus interest of 6% per year from August 27, 1870. Eighty acres was declared homestead land and therefore not subject to the lien on the rest of the
property. Charles Phillips was declared the owner of forty five acres and Elizabeth Wright Phillips, the owner of thirty five acres of the homestead lands. The judge, striking an early blow for women's rights, ruled that since Charles had abandoned Elizabeth, she was "head of household" and had an independentright to the land. Charles received $800 an acre plus 6070 interest per year from 1870.
As for the other tract of seventy-eight acres, there were three different trials before the value of the land was decreed to be $1,800-$1,900 per acre. The judge threw out the first two verdicts as "excessive".
While this litigation stretched out from 1870 to 1885, the South Park Commissioners saw the costs of procuring the land rising and they chafed under the expense and delay. In 1873 they complained in their annual report, "In the East Division, Commissioners have met greatest difficulty in gaining title sufficient to warrant their proceeding in the work of improvement. The very fact that the surface of ground admits of no other way of laying out except in continuous lakes and lagoons as planned by Olmsted and Vaux in their original draught of the park, prevents them from beginning the work without possession of the whole tract".
Little work was done in the East Division before 1876, but roads and sewers were put in, Stony Island Avenue was completed, the Twin Lakes were put into operation, trees were planted and a pier was built.
While the land was in dispute, many other controversies raged and tempers flared; unauthorized individuals were selling sand and gravel from the lake. The shoreline was being eroded because the placement of piers seven miles north of Chicago had redirected storms to the south lake shore. Cattle were roaming loose on the land and fences had to be
put up to keep them off. The neighbors continued their sport of shooting wild pigeons on the property. Elizabeth
Phillips and her son brought lumber down the lake on a tug one night in August
1873 and erected a house on the old property, only to see it torn down the next day by the park police. A flock of sixty eight sheep was kept to keep the grass under control. The Commissioners sold ice and hay from the land each year or extra_income. The Panic of 1873 added to the difficulty of collecting the assessments from the neighboring property, and in one year alone, the legal fees for the land purchases were $11,000.
By the mid-I 880's, as the land was finally purchased in full, Jackson Park gradually began to be developed with some of the lakes and grounds that Olmsted had envisioned. Twin Lakes was a popular skating place, drawing forty four thousand persons in 1884, while the picnics and concerts drew some seventy thousand people a year earlier. Three lawn tennis courts were added in 1886,
and soon proved to be far too few for the demand; twelve more were added the next year. A stone water closet was built for the ladies, five hundred feet north of 59th Street - "durable, ornamental and much
needed". Besides fourteen acres of artificial lakes and two baseball diamonds, there was a large shelter erected near 56th Street, big enough for two thousand five hundred people to dance on the maple floor. It was occupied almost every evening in the good weather for dancing parties of all kinds. There were even a "number of interesting matches of foot ball played in Jackson Park where the meadow is well adapted to the game."
By 1890 when Jackson Park became the site chosen for the World's Fair, there were eighty two acres of oak-covered ridge, twenty four acres of artificial lakes and three hundred six acres of open
space. The South Park system had been in process of construction for over twenty years. Sewering, road making, grading, planting and building a complete breakwater, along with the purchase of the lands had cost the taxpayer a little
over $7,000 an acre, still below the average price of unimproved land
adjacent to the park. With the infusion of money for the Fair, Olmsted was hired again to turn the land into wooded islands and Venetian canals and Jackson Park finally became the complete park that its planners had envisioned.
Postscript:
As for Charles and Elizabeth Phillips, they did not live long enough to enjoy the
money they received or to see the property they had lived on and fought so bitterly over for thirty years of their lives, turned into meadows and lakes, full of phaetons, promenading Hyde Parkers, tennis and baseball players, boaters and dancers.
Elizabeth died in 1889. Her son married the family lawyer's daughter. Charles died in 1890, leaving his small estate to the Oneida Community in New York, a uptopian settlement where no one was allowed to own any private property. His will was a final tirade against all lawyers.
The Filipino American Experience in Hyde Park
Some of the first "Pensionados" - Philippine Government Sponsored tudents - and other Filipinos a well, settled in Hyde Park in
the 1920's. Of 717 students in the United States in 1924, 108 lived in Chicago. Twenty attended the University of Chicago; others were at Hyde Park High School and medical, art, music, technical, busine , and engineering schools. Most of these students were bachelors, but there were a few families and a few women as well.
By the 1930's, 15 to 20 Filipino families had settled in the area and their children attended Ray, Fisk, and Kosminski Schools. Some were students at Mrs.
Green's Nursery School at the Hyde Park Baptist Church (now the Hyde Park Union Church) and many attended St.
Thomas as well.
Because at that time Filipinos were nationals, not eligible for citizenship, nor were they considered aliens, and their numbers were small, they found solace in their countrymen and formed social clubs which picnicked at Jackson Park, played
tennis at Washington Park, and participated in activities at Brent House and International Hou e. They al o delighted the community by Oying their colorful and unique homemade kite on the Midway.
Filipinos were also active in the business community here in Hyde Park; the National Tea and A & P Store are gone, but "Louie's Barber Shop". almost an institution, is till located on 53rd Street. A Filipino al o owned a 57th Street restaurant at the location of the original Tropical Hut.
Many families have remained in the community, ome having had to buy their first homes on contract, because at that time mortgages were not available to them. Because of the University, friends and relatives were encouraged to migrate to Chicago. Many doctors and nurses were trained at the University hospitals and the only Filipino member of the New York Stock Exchange has fond memories of her years in Hyde Park.
Hyde Park and the Filipino American community have been good for each other.
Researching the History of Your House
by Devereux Bowly
Gathering information about the history
Hyde Park Historical Society Archives
Since its inception, the Hyde Park Historical Society has received donations of books, documents, photographs and other material related to the histories of the communities of Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn as well as the city of Chicago. Some of this material is retained in the headquarters of the Society. Most,
of your house can be a lengthy process, although if you are lucky you may find out some interesting things with a minimum of effort. There is no single way to proceed, but like a detective, a person should explore several avenues, each of which may, or may not, produce significant information. It is not possible here to do more than suggest a few ways to get started. Once the research is underway, one thing often leads to another.
A good place to begin is in the appendix of Jean Block's Hyde Park Houses (which is for sale at the headquarters). If your house is listed, you will learn the date of construction, original owner and his occupation, and the name of the architect. From there the sources are numerous, and include among others:
- Chicago Historical Society Library, where much information is available about prominent Chicagoans.
- City's Department of lnspectional Services (9th noor of City Hall), where you may find on microfilm the original building permit for the hou e, or permits for subsequent major work done on it.
- Cook County Recorder of Deed (basement of County Building), where you can trace the history of ownership of the property.
- Burnham Library of the Art Institute, the best architectural library in town.
For a more detailed description of how to do the actual research necessary to gather the history of a house, one should obtain a copy of the booklet "Your House Has a History," from the city's Commission on Chicago Landmarks, by phoning them at 744-3200.
however, has been placed in the Society's archives, which are located in the Special Collections Department of The University of Chicago's Regenstein Library. Our Society has about ten lineal feet of shelved material in the archives and recent acquisitions are now being readied for entry into the collection. The archives may be consulted upon application to the library's Special Collections Department during normal business hours. Its staff report that the Society's archives have attracted attention and are being used frequently by a variety of researchers.
Facilitating their work is an inventory of the current holdings that was prepared by Mrs. Jean Block, the original organizer of our collection and the Society's long time archivist. Boardmember Stephen A. Treffman has recently succeeded her in that position.
COMING EVENTS
Mark your calendar:
June -
Exhibit at headquarters: Student's History Fair Projects
June 4 & 5 -
Hyde Park Art Fair
June 11 -
Tour of the Unitarian Church with Church Historian Wallace Rusterholtz
June 19 - House Tour:
Home of Raffaello LaMantia & Ed LaVelle
July -
Exhibit at Headquarters:
Hyde Park Doorways; photos by Ed Campbell
July 4 -
Community Picnic at Promontory Point
Until June 20 -
Oakwood Cemetary Exhbit: Celebrating our Diversity
AGoldMineofInformation...
that's what the workshop KEEPING UP YOUR HISTORIC HOUSE provided
This News/el/er ;s published four times a year by the Hyde Park Historical Society a not-lor profit organization organized in 1975 tu record, preserve, and promote publi, intere,1 in che history of Hyde Park. Its headquarter , located 'nan 1893 restored cable car station at 5529 S. Lake Park Avenue, houses local ex hibits. It is open 10 the public, Saturdays, 2-4 p.m., Sundays, 2-4 p.m. Telephone: HY-3-1893.
President.......................................... Jay Mulberry
Editor........................................... Penny Johnson
Theresa McDermott
Rita Dukette
Regular membership in the Society is $10 per year; contributing membership, $25; sponsors, S50; benefactors, $100.
atitsmeetingonMay14th.OrganizedbyBoardmember RichardNayer,who is aGeneralContractorand ConstructionManager,a panelofexpertspresentedslides and describedtheir specialareas ofexpertise.WalterArnold,a Stone Carver,showedslides ofcarvedmantels he hadconstructedfortheRosenwaldHouserenovation.RepresentativesfromTheDecorator's Supply Corp.,afirmwhichgoes backto the World'sFairof1893,outlinedtheprocessusedformakingdecorativewoodcornicesandtrim.Therewas an enthusiasticquestionandanswerperiodwiththose inattendancemakinggooduse oftheiropportunityto askanexpert.Participantswere:
Richard Nayer
Nayer Construction Company 329 West 18th St., 60616
Stephen K. Grage & Stephen G. Jonassen Decorator's Supply Corp.
3610-12 S. Morgan, 60609
David Arndt, Masonry Contractor Arndt Construction
667-1611
Edward Kochan & Greg Grzesinski Racine Sheet Metal Works
3244 N. Sheffield, 60657
Walter S. Arnold, Stone Carver 329 W. 18th St., 60616
Jean Block had so many gifts and she shared them so generously with the Hyde Park Historical Society - in its founding and in all the years since. We mourn her death and will truly miss her kind and thoughtful presence as well as the continuing contribution she made to the Society's on-going programs. Her sensible and intelligent suggestions often kept the Society on the right track and her scholarship was a matter of pride for all. In the article below, Clyde Watkins, who with Jean first envisioned a Hyde Park Historical Society, shares some of his memories with us.
Remembering Jean
by Clyde Watkins
One of the wonderful things about growing up, and then remaining as an adult in the same community, is that you get to know so many people. Better yet, your relationships evolve as you mature. When I first met Jean Block, I was fourteen and she was, to me, the mother of schoolmates at U-High. I knew nothing of her interest in history -- particularly Hyde Park's history -- because my own appreciation of the past and its influence on the present had not yet developed.
Some years later,when I was part of a small group of people trying to identify and bring together the critical mass for a"HistoricalLeague ofHydeParkKenwood,"Jean was the first bonafide expert on local history to emerge. In fact I don't remember exactly how or when she became involved,probably because she was there from the first moment our effort shadany degree of substance.I do remember this: she gave us a credibility we never would have had otherwise. She made all of us recognize the potential such an organization could have.
For example, when the few of us thus far involved realized at lunch one day, over a tureen of wonderful homemade soup at Jean's apartment, that we needed a dynamic leader to help catalyze mere interest into an institution, she not only identified Muriel Beadle, but arranged the meeting and, when we asked Muriel to become our first president, convinced her
to accept. (And Jean was right -- talk about decisive leadership! Muriel thought for a moment and replied, "OK, ['II do it. We're going to call this the Hyde Park Historical Society and here are the first three things I want the two of you to do by next week ... ")
As good Hyde Parkers we took ourselves very seriously indeed during those formative days. After all, we were making history! Throughout our endless meetings, Jean was always present, always observing our antics with her modest and marvelous smile, just patiently waiting for us to get beyond the bureaucracy o we could get started on the substance. To her the most important thing was to offer programs -- events and publications which would enlighten our neighbors and excite them too about the significance and uniqueness of our community's history.
Jean influenced us in a variety of fundamentally important ways during those early years of the Society. First, she had a real love of both history and architecture, and understood their relationship. She kept us from going too far in either direction. She also had a gift for relating to people, in her non threatening way, so that each could enjoy his or her own discoveries and brainstorms, even though she had been working with these truths herself for years. This made it easy for young whippersnappers to participate right along with those who had a more vested interest in the events of earlier eras in Hyde Park's history. lt is a real plus for our Society that this trait has endured, and Jean had a lot to do with creating the climate of openness and goodwill which made such a broad spectrum of involvement possible.
Let me give another example of her admirable restraint. She was known and appreciated by many influential and wealthy people all over Chicago. When it came time to raise the money to restore our headquarters, I know she could have contacted a few friends and taken care of the entire thing. (Amazingly, $45,000 is not considered such a huge sum by everyone!) Yet Jean didn't interfere. She let all of us participate, building our own commitment through our hopes and our efforts. She dutifully went along on the foundation calls, and only dropped a modest note to her friends (who sat on all the boards) afterwards, just to make sure. Little did we know that, with Jean involved, we were in great shape before we started.
Participating in the creation of the Hyde Park Historical Society was a wonderful experience for a number of people. r feel really privileged to have been a part of it. Getting to know, and like, and deeply admire Jean was certainly a high point we all shared. We were lucky to have her.
HPHS Establishes Jean Friedberg Block Award
At its meeting in May, 1988, the Board unanimously, and with heartfelt affection for Jean Block, established an award in her name. It will be presented occasionally for a distinguished work devoted to Hyde Park History. The letter below from Ed Campbell, who will chair the Award Selection Committee, and a response from Jean's daughter Elizabeth, will be of interest to Society members.
May 20, 1988
Dear Jean,
It is my great pleasure to tell you that the Hyde Park Historical Society has established an award in your honor to be known as the Jean Friedberg Block Prize. It will be presented on an occasional basis for an outstanding literary work dealing with some aspect of the history of Hyde Park, and will provide an honorarium of
$1000. We hope thereby to encourage the production of superior historical writing so beautifully exemplified in your published works, particularly Hyde Park Houses and The Uses of Gothic.
The Board felt it was fitting to name this prize for you in recognition of your contributions as Founder and Board Member of the Historical Society and as a distinguished historian of the Hyde Park community.
appreciation and with affection, Ed Campbell for the Board of Directors Hyde Park Historical Society
Dear Mr. Campbell,
We are truly moved by your action in establishing a prize named after Jean Block. She also asks that I convey to you, and to everyone at HPHS, her gratitude for your kind thoughts. As I'm sure you know, Hyde Park is of the greatest
interest to her, and nothing could be more exciting than such recognition of her involvement. I myself remember your current headquarters as a hot dog shop (great treat) but your "product"
--appreciation of Hyde Park -- is more nourishing.
Yours, Elizabeth Block
Neighborhood Oral History Project
The Society is interested in coordinating a neighborhood oral history project in which any number of local organizations could cooperate to interview subjects and then pool and catalog the results.
Community institutions such as churches have obvious reasons for wanting to gather the memories of their members. But other groups should, too. Social service organizations, clubs, schools and ethnic groups have histories which should not be lost.
If interest is shown, the Society will help train oral historians, keep track of work in progress and arrange for interchange of documents. If the idea appeals to you, call 288-1242 to get involved.
HPHS Members Invited to Frank Lloyd Wright Homes
A gracious invitation has been extended to HPHS members and their guests to visit two Frank Lloyd Wright houses on Sunday afternoon, November 6--the McArthur House at 4852 S. Kenwood and the Blossom House at 4858 S. Kenwood.
Ruth Michael and Alice Shaddle Baum are the hostesses.
The group will meet first at 3 p.m. at the McArthur House and hear about the history of the homes. Refreshments will be served.
The number of guests will necessarily be
limited to thirty. Members interested are asked to send a five-dollar donation, per person, to:
The Hyde Park Historical Society 5529 S. Lake Park Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60637
Tickets will be mailed to the first thirty members responding.
Be An Expert by Jay Mulberry, President
We are a society of amateurs, admittedly. But amateurs have expertise which is wanted by others.
Every week I receive calls from people who want to know more about something. Sometimes they are interested in a person, or a house; sometimes they are interested in a style of architecture; sometimes they want to know about literary figures or criminals; often they just want to know what things were like "back then." Most of the time I wish I would direct them to someone who knows more than I do.
No one expects you to be a guru. People just want to talk with someone who knows more than they. And you do. Please notify the society if you would be willing to try and answer questions on some topic. First we will make a list for our own use and eventually we will make a directory. But remember, nobody expects you to be any more than a bit better informed than they.
HYDE PARK DOORWAYS Text and Photographs by Edward A. Campbell
Examples of doorways from a period of 120 years, 1868 to 1988, are included in this selection--a random lot which attracted the fancy of the photographer. Most of the buildings are from the first half of the period, ending roughly about 1930 when the Great Depression brought construction to a virtual standstill and the influence of the International Style changed the taste for ornament on buildings.
After centuries of doorways identified to make a celebration of arrival and to mark the transition from the common places to the special spaces, entrances became almost indistinguish able from other elements of the building facade. Doorways on modern buildings, usually de-emphasized, were strictly functional--no celebration there.
But with the advent of Post Modern style in architecture, the entrance once more is marked: a grand arch frames the doors to the John Crerar Library, gables appear over the entrances to the Kersten Center and a whimsical false pediment with a window tops the Prairie City Diner--all built since 1984.
Echoes of most historical styles and classical elements are found in the or nament of the elaborate doorways of the 19th and early 20th century buildings. There are classical columns with pediments, some angular, some round, some broken. You see post and lintel framings with plain or fluted pillars, Doric, Ionic or Corinthian capitals with plain surfaces or reliefs of festoons, garlands or scrollwork on the architrave. Romanesque arches were popular; one curious example has stub by but massive granite columns sup porting a round arch of rusticated stone springing from Corinthian capitals. The arch is outlined with an egg and dart border.
Gothic arches with pinnacles, crockets, cusps and tracery, and quatrefoil reliefs sometimes appear over classical columns. Tudor and Georgian periods were the inspiration for many doorways.
Simpler entrances to frame houses include two from the 1860's, both in Italianate style: the house at 5630 Kim bark, and the house at 5417 Black stone. There is gingerbread ornament from 1890 and a later house with a front porch, classic pillars and balustrade.
The four Frank Lloyd Wright houses whose entrances are exhibited (Blossom 1892, McArthur 1892, Heller 1897 and Robie 1909) offer a glimpse of the transition from the traditional to the unique expression of his genius. (The Robie House door originally had leaded inserts of stained glass in geometric patterns similar to those of the windows throughout the house.)
The row houses show a wide range of design from the plain graystones of 1882, the Victorian gaudy of 5200 Blackstone, 1889, the various classical facades of the Brompton block of 5200 Greenwood, to the warm serenity and gracious courts of the Ben Weese
groupings between Kenwood and Kimbark, and the somber formality of the Macsai houses at Dorchester and 57th Street.
The Art Deco examples really mark the end of this period of effulgence in ornamented doorways. The Powhatan, an elegant highrise apartment, in tegrates American Indian and Art Deco design elements with finesse; the St. Thomas Apostle School entrance, a beautiful metaphor for education, shows burgeoning abstract plant forms beside flower-studded diagonal cano pies,-with relief panels symbolic of education, art, religion, patriotism, music and science.
The richness and diversity of Hyde Park architecture are established by these few photographs; hundreds of other doorways, equally eccentric, charming or handsome, may be seen on almost any street you choose.
About the Author
A long-time resident of Hyde Park, Edward Campbell is a practicing architect, licensed in Illinois, and a member of the American Institute of Architects. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, and California State University, Dominguez Hills.
He was the recipient of a Paul Cor nell Award in 1987, "For the Devotion of Meticulous Scholarship and Love to the Study and Explanation of Terra Cotta Decoration in Hyde Park."
An exhibit of photographs of 75 Hyde Park doorways opened at the Hyde Park Historical Society Head quarters on July 19, 1988, and continued through October 30. Hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 2 until 4 pm. The article presented here, Hyde Park Doorways, is taken from the exhjbit catalog.
Block Family Contribution to HPHS Archives
Stephen A. Treffman
HPHS Archivist
Jean Block loved architecture and Chicago history, especially that of Hyde Park. Her classic monographs on Hyde Park houses and the buildings of the University of Chicago reflected that passion. So also did her devotion to the Hyde Park Historical Society and a personal collection of books and artifacts related to Chicago. After Jean's death, her daughter, Elizabeth Kuklick and her son, William Block, graciously donated a significant portion of her papers, collectables, and books related to Chicago and Hyde Park history to our Society and its archives. A result is that those archives, which Jean originally organized and cared for until shortly before her death, have been significantly enhanced.
Included in the gift are the note cards Jean accumulated in the course of her research for Hyde Park Houses: An Informal History, 1856-1910 (1978) and The Uses of Gothic: Planning and Building the Campus of The University of Chicago (1983). Many of these cards contain information that does not appear in those books. In addition, the original large format negatives and prints of the homes pictured in Hyde Park Houses have been given to the Society. These
photographs had been produced by Jean's son, the late Samuel W. Block, Jr.
At the time of her death, Jean was engaged in research on Hyde Park's apartment buildings and had assembled a catalog of some 350 buildings, noting their dates and costs of construction, architects, and original developers. This list will become part of our archives and the Society is considering the possibility of publishing it.
Dozens of books have been added to our library through the Block family gift. These additions include such classics as the 1889 edition of the charter and membership list of the Washington Park Club Race Track, A. T. Andreas' three volume History of Chicago (1884), and P. Gilbert and C. L. Bryson 's Chicago and its Makers (1929). Several books on the World's Columbian Exposition in Jean's collection supplement another recent gift to the Society from Muriel Beadle, one of its former presidents, which also included books on the Exposition. The Society is beginning to amass a significant collection of published material on the Fair.
Postcards depicting images of Chicago, Washington and Jackson Parks, Hyde Park, White City, and the University of Chicago, most of them published prior to 1920, were also collected by Jean. This 400-card collection was part of the Block family gift to the Society. Included in the collection are the views pictured in this issue of the newsletter. One is an unusual so-called "real photo" view of the Hyde Park Hotel at 51st and Lake Park postmarked October 2, 1911. Another, dating from the same period, depicts the West Board Walk of the White City amusement park, which was located in a thirteen-acre area bounded by 63rd and 66th Streets and by Calumet Avenue and what is now Martin Luther King, Jr.
Drive.
Finally, a set of ten pieces of dinnerware featuring scenes of buildings on the University of Chicago campus were included in the Block family donation to the Society. These plates were manufactured by the English firm of Copeland Spode in 1931.
In the months ahead, these donations will be integrated into the archives.
Society members interested in volunteering to assist with archival processing may do so by writing to the Society.
Memorial Fund A wards Teacher Grants
A memorial fund, "The Julie Paynter Teacher Awards", has been established for Julie Borst Paynter, who died March 25, 1988, by her family and friends. The fund is being administered by HPHS. All 1988 grantees are teachers or students in the Social Studies Department of the Hyde Park Career Academy. Mrs.
Paynter was an alumna of Hyde Park High School and had been a teacher with special interest and talent in expanding her students' civic awareness.
Victor Kader was given an award to begin a culture library and resource center at the Academy. Maura Donnelly was given an award to supplement her Fulbright grant for a trip to Venezuela to develop curriculum with the Association of Teachers of Latin American Studies.
George Milkowski received a grant to take a computer course to facilitate his students' use of computers in the Social Studies lab. Theresa Perry was given an award for the purchase of two volumes of the "International Library of Afro American Life and History" to be stored in the Social Studies Lab.
Two students whose exhibits went on to the city History Fair were given awards.
They are seniors Tracie Cook and Stephanie Williams.
Contributions to the fund and applications for grants may be made through the Society.
What Do You Know About Midway Gardens?
HPHS member Mildred Williams asks fellow members and friends for any information they might have on Midway Gardens. Built in 1914 by Frank Wright and later called Edelweiss Gardens
(1916-20), and Midway Dancing Gradens (1921-28), it stood at 60th and Cottage Grove.
Any printed information or other recollections would be helpful. She says she has found no snapshots, programs, souvenirs, details of architecture or of performing artists.
We hope some of our members can help. Write Mildred at 5427 Hyde Park Blvd. 60615.